Three negotiators of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on Sunday said there has not been any discussion at the table with the Taliban delegation about an interim government as part of a possible future peace agreement. 

“The agenda shared with the republic's team does not include anything to do with an interim government,” negotiator Rasul Talib said at a press conference held online. “So far, the Taliban has not raised this topic.” 

He added: "No source or country has raised the issue of an interim government.” 

His comments were apparently in response to the Taliban deputy negotiator Abbas Stanekzai’s remarks on Friday saying that if President Ashraf Ghani steps down from his post, they (the Taliban) are ready to join the government on the spot.  

However, Rasul Talib, the Afghan negotiator, said that for them, the Taliban’s official stance is what the group mentions at the table of the negotiations. “The Taliban negotiators might raise some issues not at the negotiating table, same as some were raised in Moscow, but we believe that has a propaganda aspect.” 

Talib said that Afghanistan’s problems can only be solved through negotiations.  

“If the Taliban has something say, they can enter the talks and can share it officially; otherwise, (Abbas) Stanekzai is absent from the negotiating table,” he said. 

Stanekzai at his press conference in Moscow said that President Ghani’s administration is the "main” obstacle to peace efforts, to which President Ghani responded by saying this is not the case.

“The remarks by the Taliban who went to a country and made a statement from their podium are not acceptable to the people of Afghanistan. The president has been elected through elections,” said Sharifa Zurmati, member of the Afghan republic’s negotiating team. 

Talking at an online program hosted by the Aspen Institute on Friday, Ghani rejected the prospect of the establishment of an interim government in the country, referring to lessons of past experience, saying that he has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the nation.  

“We must agree on the date of the election so that we have the full legal transfer of authority. We have had interim governments. They’ve led to bloodshed. People of Kabul: Kabul was destroyed in 1992 by an interim government. A prime minister was bombarding his president and the president had to fight back against the prime minister. The prime minister, Mr. Hekmatyar, never came to Kabul,” Ghani said.